shobhitdeshwal
May 1st, 2007, 01:17 PM
The ideas on politics are within each of us..... By this thread I try to instigate the fire within..... To get the ideas out.... What is our view of this verb..... Which sort of runs the world.....
I am persuaded that there is absolutely no limit in the absurdity that can, by Government action, come to be generally believed. Give me an army, with power to provide it with more pay and better food than falls to the lot of the average man, and I will undertake, within thirty years, to make the majority believe that two and two are three, that water freezes when it get hots and boils when it gets cold, or any other nonsense that might seem to serve the interest of the state. Absurd! It sounds.. yes! But this is what politics means to me......
The world would be a happier place if acquisitiveness were always stronger than rivalry. But in fact, a great many men will cheerfully face impoverishment if they can thereby secure complete ruin of their rivals. Hence the present level of income tax!!!
If politics is to become scientific, and if the event is not to be constantly surprising, its imperative that our political thinking should penetrate more deeply into the springs of human action. What is the influence of hunger upon slogans? How does their effectiveness fluctuate with number of calories in your diet? If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer grain over vote?
Most political leaders acquire their position by causing large numbers of people to believe that these leaders are actuated by altruistic desires. It is well understood that such a belief is more readily accepted under the influence of excitement, Brass bands, mob oratory, lynching, and war are stages in the development of the excitement. I suppose that the advocates of unreason think that their is a better chance of profitably deceiving the populace if they keep it in a state of effervescence. Anyone who thinks like this will be called unduly rational!!! But... This is what is Politics!!!
How long will it be before the accessible oil in the world is exhausted? Will all the arable land be turned into dust-bowls as it has been in large parts of the United States? Will the population increase to the point where men again, like their remote ancestors, have no leisure to think anything but food supply? Such questions are not to be decided by general philosophical reflections. Communists think that there will be plenty of oil; if there are no capitalists. Some religious people think that there will be plenty of food if we trust in providence. Such ideas are superficial.
We all know that the price of food goes up, but most of us attribute this to the wickedness of Government. If we live under a progressive Government, it makes us reactionary. If we live under a reactionary Government, it turns us into socialists. Both these reactions are superficial and frivolous. All Governments, whatever their political complexion, are at present willy-nilly in the grip of natural forces which can only be dealt with by a degree of intelligence of which mankind hitherto shown little evidence!!!
Reactions!!
Cheers!!
Shobhit Deshwal.
I am persuaded that there is absolutely no limit in the absurdity that can, by Government action, come to be generally believed. Give me an army, with power to provide it with more pay and better food than falls to the lot of the average man, and I will undertake, within thirty years, to make the majority believe that two and two are three, that water freezes when it get hots and boils when it gets cold, or any other nonsense that might seem to serve the interest of the state. Absurd! It sounds.. yes! But this is what politics means to me......
The world would be a happier place if acquisitiveness were always stronger than rivalry. But in fact, a great many men will cheerfully face impoverishment if they can thereby secure complete ruin of their rivals. Hence the present level of income tax!!!
If politics is to become scientific, and if the event is not to be constantly surprising, its imperative that our political thinking should penetrate more deeply into the springs of human action. What is the influence of hunger upon slogans? How does their effectiveness fluctuate with number of calories in your diet? If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer grain over vote?
Most political leaders acquire their position by causing large numbers of people to believe that these leaders are actuated by altruistic desires. It is well understood that such a belief is more readily accepted under the influence of excitement, Brass bands, mob oratory, lynching, and war are stages in the development of the excitement. I suppose that the advocates of unreason think that their is a better chance of profitably deceiving the populace if they keep it in a state of effervescence. Anyone who thinks like this will be called unduly rational!!! But... This is what is Politics!!!
How long will it be before the accessible oil in the world is exhausted? Will all the arable land be turned into dust-bowls as it has been in large parts of the United States? Will the population increase to the point where men again, like their remote ancestors, have no leisure to think anything but food supply? Such questions are not to be decided by general philosophical reflections. Communists think that there will be plenty of oil; if there are no capitalists. Some religious people think that there will be plenty of food if we trust in providence. Such ideas are superficial.
We all know that the price of food goes up, but most of us attribute this to the wickedness of Government. If we live under a progressive Government, it makes us reactionary. If we live under a reactionary Government, it turns us into socialists. Both these reactions are superficial and frivolous. All Governments, whatever their political complexion, are at present willy-nilly in the grip of natural forces which can only be dealt with by a degree of intelligence of which mankind hitherto shown little evidence!!!
Reactions!!
Cheers!!
Shobhit Deshwal.